On the 30.11.16, the AMBER-project was also officially launched in Switzerland. Because AMBER is all about improving connectivity of aquatic habitats, WWF Switzerland organized an excursion to the newly installed fishways in Interlaken. Led by a group of experts, the participants visited on the one hand the first installed fish lifter in Switzerland (for the downstream migration) together with a fish sluice (for the upstream migration) and on the other hand a fish bypass which was equipped by a VAKI-Riverwatcher – a high-tech instrument, which automatically counts, measures and specifies migrating fish.

The excursion was pretty popular and was fully booked within hours. There were around 30 participants with quite different backgrounds (hydropower operators, ecologists, authorities) but all of them very experienced in the topic of fish migration. This led to very interesting and intense discussions, followed by a cozy apéro rounding off this launch.

WWF Switzerland is looking forward to an exciting project. Hopefully this project and the international context helps to further improve the connectivity of Swiss freshwaters – because this is really urgent!


#letitflow

Contact: Ruedi Bösiger / Christian Hossli

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